Parents at a village primary school, where a pupil suffered a broken arm in a playground attack, have met governors to review its policy towards bullying and bad behaviour.

The meeting was set up following the incident in July which prompted an angry response from families whose children attend the Grove Church of England School.

They wrote to governors and teachers - backed by a 60-name petition - demanding an urgent meeting. The letter said: "Unless this matter is dealt with head-on, we believe the discipline and the reputation of the whole school will rapidly deteriorate."

After the meeting this week (Sept 23), which 40 parents attended, John Mitchell, spokesman for the Oxfordshire education committee, said group discussions had led to revisions of school policy with the aim of improving communication with parents. It had also been agreed to develop a home/school agreement which many schools already have, but which will soon become mandatory under the Government's 1998 Education Act.

Mr Mitchell explained: "Parents are asked to sign up to an agreement to do their bit to help with the education process, including doing what they can in persuading their own children to take part in such things as behaviour and homework policy."

Headteacher Ron Hursey said it had been the school's intention to try to take matters forward following the bullying allegation last term.

"When you get this situation it stirs up quite a lot of passions and you get anecdotal and negative comments," he said. "We set up the meeting as a positive thing, for all parents who are interested in the school to discuss issues positively. They in turn responded very positively and came up with thoughts and suggestions as to how we could make procedures clearer and better communicated.

"It certainly achieved the purpose of allowing people to get things off their chests and to look forward to the future. "We had this review of our school's policy in our development plan anyway, and this was a catalyst to move things forward. We've always involved parents, so to bring them in to do this was not a new venture, but it was particularly relevant after what happened last term.

"The governors will now draw up a new policy and that will be drafted and circulated to all parents with a return slip. Any comments they make will go forward into a review process for the coming year."

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